The Pacific Ocean Gyre: A Huge Swirling Mass of Sadness (and Plastic)

When you’re fighting to save the world somedays are good days, some are bad. Whenever I read about the Pacific Ocean Gyre it usually turns into a bad one.

In case you haven’t read about this man made environmental disaster before let me fill you in. There is an area that is TWICE THE SIZE of the Continental U.S. in the Pacific Ocean between California and Japan that is full of garbage. The ocean currents push trash, mostly plastic, into a relatively stable area of the Pacific Sea where it just sits.

Some of it floats on the surface while the rest settles on to the sea floor. Plastic doesn’t decompose, so even when it “breaks down” it remains plastic. Scientists have measured the water there and found microscopic pieces of plastic that outnumber plankton 6 to 1. It’s downright depressing.

Marine animals and birds eat the plastic and die terrible deaths as they starve and choke to death on plastic soda rings and shopping bags.

The lesson here- people suck, recycle your plastic, and stop being such all-consuming whores.

Link [Pacific Ocean Gyre on Wikipedia] & [Green Up and Go]

Related Posts:

Activists Take Junk Journey Through ‘Plastic Soup’ in Pacific Ocean
Garbage is the Enemy of the Earth
It’s Mind Blowing Time: VBS.TV Visits the Garbage Filled Pacific Ocean Gyre
The Impossible Task of Cutting Plastic Out of Your Life
Many Face Scrubs Contain Tiny Water-Polluting Beads of Plastic